- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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On 1 May 2012 in my Blog posting I discussed the meaning, values and significance of “Fundamental Principles of Olympism”. Continuing on that theme, it is refreshing to notice that more and more observes with an eye on justice and virtue are rightly criticising the destructive and disgraceful commercialism, consumerism, sponsorship by fast food giants, soda fizzy drinks manufacturers, factory outlets, and more of the Olympic movement in general and the Olympic games in London in particular. See below for such an example:
…'Wrong message'
“As a cardiologist I treat heart disease on a daily basis… But, having seen the unspeakable suffering caused by diet-related diseases, I would much rather these patients did not develop them in the first place...
In the context of an obesity epidemic I find it obscene that the Olympics chooses to associate itself with fast food, sugary drinks, chocolate and alcohol.- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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World economy: banking on disaster
An economic system in need of restructuring is frozen in aspic by the very characters who landed it in crisis
“There are two ways to gauge the world economy. One is to comb meticulously through all the data. Then there is the short cut – glancing at announcements from central banks. Last Thursday alone, the Bank of England announced it would pump another £50bn into the financial system, to add to the £325bn it's already put in since Lehman collapsed. The European Central Bank cut its already low main rate by another quarter-point. In Beijing, often held up as one of the few bright spots, the People's Bank cut rates for the second time in a month. Evidently, even China is sinking too. When it comes to a global crisis, all countries are eventually in it together.
From chronic unemployment to elusive growth, the symptoms are frightening – and the chosen treatment is inadequate.- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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If British history is, as has been suggested, an endless struggle between dashing freebooters and conscientious plodders, the freebooters have been in the ascendancy for far too long
"Britain's bankers are swashbuckling pirates in a long tradition that stretches back 400 years. Pirating is not exclusive to Britain, but we have always been adept at stealing and extorting under the guise of free trade. Britain's merchant class created the largest empire the world has known using the techniques learned on the high seas: much of the booty our forebears crowed about was money deftly stolen from others (who mostly stole it themselves). The East India Company gave the lead and successive governments followed.
In a recent BBC4 documentary, our history was characterised as a tension between roundheads and cavaliers. Cavaliers, from Sir Walter Raleigh onwards, rarely relied on efficiency or productivity or having the largest ships, but skirmished with frigates to bamboozle and destroy the enemy.
In the modern business world, that equates to waking up each day with a determination to live on your wits and deploy every tactic in your bag of tricks to sell whatever you have to hand.
David Cameron was cast as the inheritor of the cavalier tradition. Bob Diamond, the deposed Barclays boss, is less colourful but represents an industry that revels in dealmaking and bamboozling its clients. Each day is another opportunity to invent a form of words, a complex scheme that can command a premium over the simpler fare offered by rivals.
Financial services, the arms industry and the pharmaceuticals business can lay claim to being the UK's biggest net exporters. The balance of payments is bad at the moment, but would be much worse without them. Yet they all have one foot in the gutter."…
Read more:
Banks, drugmakers and arms dealers are the new face of our piratical past
- Britain engulfed in corruption: In defence of the common people
- Capitalism in Crisis: What about revisiting Marx and Engels?
- Goodbye American Dream: Hello Broken America
- Britain engulfed in corruption: Deficient British democracy
- Britain engulfed in corruption: The dark side of working for Diamond’s Barclays Capital!